In the second round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top two entries to advance to the competition's third round—the Gold Duel.

Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten seven times, including their 2017 entry "Grab the Moment" performed by Jowst.

[2] The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation.

In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete.

[7] Ten songs were selected for the competition by several focus groups including NRK music editors, members of OGAE Norway and members of the public of different ages, and the competing acts and songs were revealed on 15 January 2018 during a press conference at NRK's Store Studio, presented by Silya Nymoen and Kåre Magnus Bergh and broadcast via NRK1 and online at mgp.no.

[3] Kåre Magnus Bergh also presented the artists on NRK P1 during the radio show Snart MGP between 10 February and 12 March.

[12] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.

On 29 January 2018, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.

[15] An alternative broadcast of the final was also televised on NRK3 with commentary by the hosts of the NRK P3 radio show P3morgen Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Reiten Nordnes and Markus Ekrem Neby.

The performance began with Rybak interacting with on-screen graphics of a virtual piano, violin and football, and four dancers joined the singer at the beginning of the first chorus.

[19][20] The four dancers, all of them which also performed backing vocals, on stage with Alexander Rybak were: Alvaro Estrella, Jens Jeffry Trinidad, Lene Kokai Flage and Lisa Børud.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.

In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.